Bye week breakdown: Fourth quarter offense vs Mizzou

Thanks for sticking around to part four of our bye week breakdown. This isn’t an easy game to go back through and watch but I am doing this to better understand why the offense looked so hapless in Missouri.

Fortunately, we were able to end the third quarter breakdown on a high note with Kelvin Taylor’s touchdown. Unfortunately, that was the last score the Gators put up on the board which makes this breakdown less than flattering.

1st Drive: 3 plays – minus 1 yard – 1:11 – Punt

Florida started their first possession of the fourth quarter down just nine points with plenty of time left on the clock.

Continuing to try to manage down and distance, Pease dialed up a screen pass to Solomon Patton on first down. Missouri’s two defensive backs played the screen very well and the man that was going to be left unblocked on the play came up and dropped Patton for a loss of a yard. There wasn’t much that Trey Burton could do to help his teammate on this play.

That loss set up second and long, which, if you’ve been following along with the series, doesn’t bode well for the Gators.

Missouri’s secondary covered everyone down the field and Tyler Murphy missed an opportunity to hit Kelvin Taylor in the flat. Taylor was open for a brief second but Murphy threw the ball away and forced third-and-long.

The Tigers secondary clamped down again and a Kelvin Taylor missed block forced Murphy to throw the ball down the field and away again.

Drive Grade: F

Three plays for minus yardage and poor blocking all around.

2nd Drive: 3 plays – minus 10 yards – :48 – Fumble

Florida’s defense couldn’t stop the bleeding and allowed the Tigers to kick a field goal. This extended Missouri’s lead to 29-17.

Down 12 points with less than eight minutes left, the Gators elected to start the drive with a run, for a three-yard gain.

Why do you start the drive off with a run when you need to score twice in seven minutes? I don’t know. Throw the football.

After the short gain on first down, Murphy missed Ahmad Fulwood on a short slant. This pass was a no-decision play for Murphy. His pass is predetermined and Kentrell Brothers does a good job of reading Murphy’s eyes and getting in position to force Murphy to throw high and behind Fulwood.

Here is the linebacker reading Murphy’s head and eyes.

Seeing that Murphy is staring down one receiver, the linebacker breaks towards that side of the field.

With a defensive back over the top and a linebacker underneath, Murphy has to throw the ball high and behind Fulwood.

Which results in Fulwood getting flipped on his head by the defensive back.

Bring on third-and-long.

At this point the Gators only converted one third down attempt all game, mostly because seven of those ten attempts were in third-and-long scenarios.

Missouri showed a blitz with six men on the line but dropped three of them back and brought only three rushers. D.J. Humphries barely got a hand on Shane Ray who plowed into Murphy and forced a fumble. Missouri recovered the ball on Florida’s seven.

Drive Grade: F –

“F-” isn’t a real grade but there has to be some distinction between this and the rest of the drives this quarter. This hurt to watch again.

3rd Drive: 6 plays – 3 yards – 1:57 – Punt

The Gator defense gave up another score following the turnover by the offense and Florida was now down an insurmountable 19 points with just 6:30 left in the game.

The drive started with a Taylor run, but Missouri’s linebacker Kentrell Brothers sniffed it out and dragged Taylor down for a loss. Murphy sailed his pass attempt to Trey Burton on second down and Florida faced a third-and-long yet again.

Max Garcia got beat off of the snap (Garcia really struggled at right tackle when he was put there against Missouri) and Murphy is forced to roll out to his right. He keeps his eyes down the field and fires a nice pass to Patton on the sideline for a first down and a 14-yard gain.

First down results in a sack due to miscommunication between Murphy and his offensive line.

Florida starts in their “10” or “Jets” personnel (1RB, 0TE, 4WR).

Murphy motions Mark Herndon over to the other side of the formation but the offensive line –namely Max Garcia — doesn’t realize that the protection has changed.

Garcia leaves the defensive end unblocked, assuming that Herndon is behind him and will pick up that man.

The rest of the line did a very good job of blocking, this is just a case of Murphy needing to make sure that everyone is on the same page before the ball is snapped.

This set up a second-and-20. Murphy is forced to his left when Jon Harrison gets bull rushed and beat off the snap. Murphy scrambles with his eyes down the field and delivered a nice pass to Fulwood who couldn’t hang on to the pass along the sideline.

Florida went into their “11” personnel (1RB, 1TE, 3WR) on third and a mile. Florida sent Herndon out on a route but they still have six to block four.

This is the result.

Murphy (orange) is sent scrambling for his life while the rest of the offensive line and Clay Burton are left watching.

Brent Pease said that sometimes the defense just brings more than you can block. He’s being a good coach by protecting his players to the media. While Missouri did bring more people than Florida could block at times, most of the game they got pressure with three and four rushers.

Florida’s offensive line play this game was atrocious.

Drive Grade: F

There’s no way to mask how bad the offense and offensive line were here.

4th Drive: 6 plays – 19 yards – 1:41 – End of the Game

This drive gets kicked off with a false start on right tackle Max Garcia.

Good start.

Murphy found Ahmad Fulwood on a short crossing route to pick up seven yards on first-and-15. Missouri is playing a very loose, lax defense as this game is as good as over.

Murphy hit Patton on a six-yard hitch on second down and Herndon out of the backfield on third down to pick up a first.

The offensive line gets absolutely blown up by a four-man pass rush on first down.

And Murphy is forced to scramble for a short gain. Ahmad Fulwood dropped a pass on second down and the Gators call another hitch to Solomon Patton with :02 left on the clock.

Drive Grade: F

Why not just take a knee here and send a message to your offense and offensive line? You can’t protect long enough to throw the ball down the field, why let Patton get blown up on the final play of a game where you’re down 36-17?

A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

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